Rooftops
by Walkinthegarden
Summary: Christmas is supposed to be a time of happiness, but when JJ gets an unwanted, unexpected suprise, it will leave her and her family crushed. This Christmas won't be a happy one.


**Rooftops**

I didn't think when I walked into work this morning, that my life would never be the same again. No, I was full of energy and ready to tackle a day of paperwork. Emily greeted me, Morgan and Reid did to, Rossi gave me a nod, and Hotch gave me a rare smile. It's almost Christmas; this wasn't the present I wanted.

I was going to head out and treat the team to lunch when I got the phone call. It was a young man; he said his name was Detective Johnson.

"Yes Detective?" I'd said into the phone, immediately going into media liaison mode.

"_Agent Jareau, you need to come down to Lakewood High," _he'd told me. The fear that ran through my veins at those words isn't something I ever want to experience again.

"What happened?" I'd yelled, causing my team to turn and look at me.

"_A student at the High School is holding a class of children hostage, I'm afraid I can't say anymore till you come down." _

"JJ?" Emily had asked as she watched me close my phone.

"Henry, Kelly, school shooter." I hadn't had to say more as Hotch and Rossi rushed me to the car while Emily called Garcia and Morgan told Strauss.

When Rossi had pulled up in front to the High school, I saw my son on the back of one of many ambulances… he was in tears.

"Henry!" I'd yelled. The look in his eyes was awful.

"Mama, Kelly, she tried to talk him down, it would have worked to… if that guy hadn't mocked him… Mama, he shot her," Henry had cried. There was blood on his shirt, and I'd known it was hers, even before they told me. I'd turned to ask the officer where my daughter was when I saw her on a stretcher. She was being wheeled out of the school, on oxygen mask on her face, blood on short pink skirt and white tank top.

Now Hotch is driving me to the hospital. There, I'll find more about my daughter's condition. As he pulls up, he parks and runs with Henry and myself into the ER.

A nurse shows us where the waiting room for the parents of injured children are waiting. I see Henry run to his girlfriend whose brother was grazed by a bullet.

The team stays with me, for four hours. Some of the parents have cleared out, but most – like myself – still await news of their children. I hear from Rossi that not all the kids are out of the school yet, that the shooter only let the wounded leave. He still has children with him; he still has parents on the edge of their seats, waiting for him to shoot their kid.

My thoughts are interrupted as a doctor enters the waiting room.

"Kelly LaM…" the doctor struggles with my baby's name.

"I'm her mother, and this is her father," I say as Will and I stand.

"I'm so sorry," the doctor says softly. Tears well in my eyes, and I can hear the other mothers break into sobs. "We tried everything we could."

"Can I see her?" I ask through my tears. He nods and motions for me to follow. I tell Will to stay with Henry as I follow. I follow him to a room that holds my baby. She's lying on her back, her hair in her face, blood on her cloths and skin, and a hole in her arm from where they'd tried to replace her blood. I take her hand and brush away her hair as tears fall from my eyes.

"I'm sorry sweetie. I'm so sorry. I would take your place in a heartbeat if I could. You were my beautiful little girl, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do without you. The last words I said to you were: 'It's your fault for not doing the paper, and I won't save you'. Now I have to live with that for the rest of my life. You left the house, your biggest worry being how you would get out of turning in the paper, it seems so silly now," I laugh a little as I cry. "There are so many things I wish I could tell you, so many things I wish we could have done. But at least I know you'll be taken care of. You have Aunt Jocelyn to look after you till I join you. Know sweetie, I'm so proud of you for trying to talk the boy down. I love you so much." I kissed her face before breaking down in sobs as I sit in the chair and hold her hand.

**At The School**

"What?" Detective Johnson says with his phone to his ear. "Oh God, yes, I will." He hung up the phone. "Men?"

"Yeah?" the guys chorused as they stopped what they were doing and looked.

"The girl that tried to talk the boy down, Kelly, she died. Now I don't want another kid dead, if he doesn't surrender in twenty minutes we go in, he will only keep killing. Lets just hope this kid has a conscience and will realize what he's done if we tell him about Kelly.

**Christmas Day **

No one feels like opening presents, but I convince everyone that it would do us some good. Henry opens a box with his name and finds only a card in the large box. He opens it.

"Look in your room," he reads out loud. He trudges to his feet and walks into his room to find a TV on the wall. "Thanks mom, dad," he says as he gives us a half-hearted thank you. I look at Will and we both know that Henry doesn't want the TV, he just wants his sister. We don't blame him, we want her back to.

Once all the presents are opened, we all stare at the presents that have Kelly's name on them. Henry picks up the smallest one and starts pulling off the ribbon. He pulls of the wrapping paper and starts to cry when he sees the box for the pink digital camera Kelly had been asking for.

We all got what we asked for, but none of us asked for Kelly to die. This was a Christmas we all wanted to forget, but that would never happen.


End file.
